Squatgate Commission – Is
police prepared to accept the principle that strip searches are not a
routine police practice but are done only in exceptional circumstances and
no more than about five per cent of all searches?

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Media Statement (2)by Lim Kit Siang________________________________

(Parliament,
Monday): If the Police is resistant to
acceptance of the first of the eight Squatgate Commission’s recommendations
for the “immediate discontinuance” of the nude earsquat practice, the
Cabinet on Wednesday should override the police and accept the
recommendation with immediate effect as a matter of national policy.

The Cabinet decided on
Wednesday that all proposals on the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) made in
the Squatgate Commission report be referred to the Parliamentary Select
Committee headed by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk
Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad which is looking into the amendments to the
Code. I have been informed by DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok, who is a
member of the Select Committee, that the Select Committee would be having
its meetings in the second week of February.

However, the Commission’s
first recommendation on the “immediate discontinuance” of the police nude
earsquat practice has nothing to do with the CPC or the Select Committee, as
it is only a question of whether the police leadership is prepared to accept
and implement this Commission recommendation by sending out a clear
directive that no more “nude ketuk ketampi” of detainees in police
custody is henceforth allowed!

Only two of the Squatgate
Commission’s recommendations are related to the work of the Select
Committee, namely:

A Code of
Practice on Body Search be passed as a subsidiary legislation under the
Criminal Procedure Code. (A draft of the proposed Code of Practice is
included in the Report).

Amendment
of Chapter IV and V of the Criminal Procedure Code dealing with searches
to incorporate the following:

(i)Decency to be
defined to include prohibition of total exposure of a person’s body at any
one time as most jurisdictions (in other countries) provide for partial
clothing when such a search is conducted; and

(ii)To adopt categories
of searches beginning from the least intrusive to most instrusive, i.e. pat
down search, strip search and intimate search.

The police leadership should
declare whether it is prepared to accept the principle that strip searches
are not a routine police practice but are done only in exceptional
circumstances and no more than about five per cent of all searches?

The Squatgate Commision’s
recommendations for a Code of Practice to be passed by Parliament to ensure
safeguards against violations of human rights and dignity in police searches
is most welcome and long overdue.

The other five recommendations
of the Squatgate Commission, which also have nothing to do with the Select
Committee, are:

Whole
Body Scanners be installed in police stations.

PDRM
shall make the Code of Practice on Body Search accessible to the public
through their website.

Educate
the public of their personal rights during investigations through public
campaigns and other means including through their website.

To
emphasise on the importance of human rights in accordance with the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, other International Instruments and
Syariah principles through an increase in training and awareness
programmes with PDRM.

To
expedite the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and
Misconduct Commission as recommended in the Royal Commission Report be
implemented without further delay.

What is the fate of these five
recommendations? The Cabinet cannot just “pass the buck” on the Squatgate
Commission Report to the Select Committee on Criminal Procedure Code and
Penal Code. It should make at least two other decisions on the Report on
Wednesday:

Endorse
and implementation of the recommendation to establish the Independent
Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission; and

Making
the 318-page Squatgate Commission Report accessible to the public on the
Internet.